Jon Jones isn’t the only Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star to score a new eight-fight deal to start 2023.
On Saturday, UFC president Dana White rolled out another special announcement to unveil the new coaches for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. It will be Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler, who will fight at the end of the season at an event yet to be determined.
In addition, White revealed that the promotion has signed surging UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley to a new eight-fight deal. The specifics of the new fight contract are unknown at this time, but this is huge news for both sides.
O’Malley, who is undoubtedly one of the promotion’s fastest rising stars today, has steadily become a household name over the past few years. Coming off White’s Contender Series back in 2017 the young bantamweight has had to prove his worth along the way. Even after suffering a TKO loss to Marlon Vera back in 2020 O’Malley was able to regroup and push his UFC stock to new heights.
In 2022, O’Malley captured the biggest victory of his career when he earned a unanimous decision win over former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 280. It was a war of attrition and O’Malley proved that he’s a top contender in the division ready to compete for UFC gold. Nothing has been booked as of yet, but “Sugar” is on the very short list of contenders deserving of the next bantamweight title shot.
O’Malley has gone on record stating that he believes he can become UFC’s next big star and now he’ll have the chance to prove it (again). Signing the bantamweight contender to a new eight-fight deal is a good indication that UFC believes O’Malley can become just that.
What say you, fight fans? Does O’Malley deserve this new contract?
Sound off!